Measurements were made of oxygen bubble distributions at various sparging rates in LiCl-KCl melts at 500C using a high-speed digital camera and an oxygen sensor. The results revealed that bubble sizes and rise velocities increased with increasing oxygen sparging rate. The bubbles were ellipsoidal in shape and the equivalent diameter, based upon the ellipsoid volume, ranged from 0.00263 to 0.00407m. The bubble equivalent diameters were normally distributed. A Fanning friction factor correlation was used to predict the bubble rise-velocity. Oxygen mass transfer coefficients were calculated using the oxygenation model. These values were of the order of 10-4m/s and decreased with increasing bubble size and sparging rate. The diffusivities were calculated, based upon two different approaches. The diffusivity values calculated from bubble physics ranged from 1.65 x 10-9 to 8.40 x 10-9m2/s. These results were within the range suggested by literature data on gases in liquids of similar viscosity.

Measurements and Analysis of Oxygen Bubble Distributions in LiCl-KCl Molten Salt. S.Phongikaroon, R.W.Bezzant, M.F.Simpson: Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 2013, 91[3], 418-25